We investigate compactness phenomena involving free boundary minimal hypersurfaces in Riemannian manifolds of dimension less than eight. We provide natural geometric conditions that ensure strong one-sheeted graphical subsequential convergence, discuss the limit behaviour when multi-sheeted convergence happens and derive various consequences in terms of finiteness and topological control.Mathematics Subject Classification (MSC 2010): Primary 53A10; Secondary 53C42, 49Q05.

We compute a Bochner type formula for static three-manifolds and deduce some applications in the case of positive scalar curvature. We also explain in details the known general construction of the (Riemannian) Einstein (n+1)-manifold associated to a maximal domain of a static n-manifold where the static potential is positive. There are examples where this construction inevitably produces an Einstein metric with conical singularities along a codimension-two submanifold. By proving versions of classical results for Einstein four-manifolds for the singular spaces thus obtained, we deduce some classification results for compact static three-manifolds with positive scalar curvature.

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We prove a local splitting theorem for three-manifolds with mean convex boundary and scalar curvature bounded from below that contain certain locally area-minimizing free boundary surfaces. Our methods are based on those of Micallef and Moraru [12]. We use this local result to establish a global rigidity theorem for area-minimizing free boundary disks. In the negative scalar curvature case, this global result implies a rigidity theorem for solutions of the Plateau problem with length-minimizing boundary.